Beach Balls for Days

[AaronH]

So, I've had Mojave since July. It hasn't been bad. I've liked it so far. I got a batch of updates a few weeks ago and now I get the beach ball/color wheel thingy all the time. Copying an empty file? Beach ball. Open a file? Beach ball. Rename a file? Beach ball.

I couldn't stand it so convinced the owner to buy me more ram. I now have 32GB of DDR4 ram and am still getting the beach balls of doom for seriously anything and everything on my computer. Opening pallets in adobe programs, changing tools in pitstop, opening files (possibly unrelated, but I sometimes have to double click on a file multiple times to get it to open once), dragging a file into XMF, changing file location in finder, doing anything in finder. I don't get it. Restarts do nothing. Onyx does nothing. I have 34 fonts installed so that can't be it. My trash has 50 GB in it, but it's holding files I am not completely sure I want to delete just yet - I set it to delete after 30 days.

I have no idea why this is happening. Disk Utility First Aid says my hard drive is OK.

[Joe]

Do you have the very old free edition of Linotype Font Explorer on it? If so...get rid of it. It causes major issues in Mojave.

If you don't have that try creating a test admin account. Log into it and see if the issue persists. If not there is probably some kind of corrupt file in the user account you are using now. Had the same issue with a freshly formatted SSD with a clean install of Mojave recently. After getting it setup with all necessary apps it was unusable doing the exact same things. Created a new account and everything works fine in the new user account.

If the new account does do the same thing there is probably a corrupt file in the system folders.

I have seen corrupt fonts create havoc as well but it is dangerous to remove any font files from Macintosh HD/Library/Fonts or Macintosh HD/System/Library/Fonts. Be careful in there.

[pspdfppdfxhd]

I still use Linotype font explorer. I am still on Sierra but will have to update after the Christmas rush to the latest. I can't update Indesign etc. and I hate converting .idml files. Then I'll be dealing with other issues I'm sure, like updating other programs.

Any advice for a font management program?

[born2print]

Suitcase Fusion 6 plays well with Mojave for us...

[AaronH]

Do you have the very old free edition of Linotype Font Explorer on it? If so...get rid of it. It causes major issues in Mojave.

If you don't have that try creating a test admin account. Log into it and see if the issue persists. If not there is probably some kind of corrupt file in the user account you are using now. Had the same issue with a freshly formatted SSD with a clean install of Mojave recently. After getting it setup with all necessary apps it was unusable doing the exact same things. Created a new account and everything works fine in the new user account.

If the new account does do the same thing there is probably a corrupt file in the system folders.

I have seen corrupt fonts create havoc as well but it is dangerous to remove any font files from Macintosh HD/Library/Fonts or Macintosh HD/System/Library/Fonts. Be careful in there.

No Linotype or any other font management software at the moment. I'm using a shortcut to my ~/Library/Fonts folder and just dropping them in there as I need them, then deleting.

I'll try making another user folder and see if that fixes it. Would be very interesting if it is the issue.

[AaronH]

New question... I'm setting up a new user account on my machine... Can I log into Pitstop with the same credentials or do I need to log out of the other user and then log into the new one?

Thanks!

[Joe]

Same credentials. You will probably still be logged in when you go to use Pitstop. It should just work without you having to do anything. Same for Adobe CC.

[AaronH]

Thanks Joe!

So far the new user account is working much nicer. I wish I could peg down what the culprit was so I could avoid this in the future but sheesh, I don't think I ever will.

[Joe]

Since you have an account that works well now you could always go back to the original account and start deleting things to see if it is something that could be fixed. I would start with preferences. Notably Apple prefs since it seems to happen system wide. I would start with Finder prefs.

[AaronH]

Alright. I'll give that a shot.

Thanks Joe!

[AaronH]

Things have been working so well so far on the new admin account I haven't switched back.

I've kept pretty much everything default. With that said, it should be safe to turn on right click right? I'm even getting used to Apple's "Natural" scrolling - which is in no way natural.

Edit... Why is secondary click off by default? It didn't bother me not being on, my left hand is right there anyway for shortcuts for copying while dragging and other hotkeys in the adobe apps, but it has me curious.

[Joe]

Right click and unchecking Apple's unnatural natural movement shouldn't affect anything.

[AaronH]

Cool. Thanks Joe!

[pspdfppdfxhd]

Do you have the very old free edition of Linotype Font Explorer on it? If so...get rid of it. It causes major issues in Mojave.

If you don't have that try creating a test admin account. Log into it and see if the issue persists. If not there is probably some kind of corrupt file in the user account you are using now. Had the same issue with a freshly formatted SSD with a clean install of Mojave recently. After getting it setup with all necessary apps it was unusable doing the exact same things. Created a new account and everything works fine in the new user account.

If the new account does do the same thing there is probably a corrupt file in the system folders.

I have seen corrupt fonts create havoc as well but it is dangerous to remove any font files from Macintosh HD/Library/Fonts or Macintosh HD/System/Library/Fonts. Be careful in there.

No Linotype or any other font management software at the moment. I'm using a shortcut to my ~/Library/Fonts folder and just dropping them in there as I need them, then deleting.

I'll try making another user folder and see if that fixes it. Would be very interesting if it is the issue.

You really find that this is a good alternative to using a dedicated font management utility?

[Joe]

You really find that this is a good alternative to using a dedicated font management utility?

That is how I roll too. You can actually create customer folders inside of there and move them in and out as needed. A poor mans font management system.